Japanese Luxury Car Dealer L’Operaio Adds Bitcoin Payment Option

L’Operaio, a pre-owned luxury speciality car dealership in Tokyo, has teamed with Japanese crypto exchange bitFlyer to allow its customers to use bitcoin for car purchases.

Founded in 2014, bitFlyer is Japan’s largest bitcoin exchange by trading volume and one of the largest in the world. It supports multiple cryptocurrency trading pairs, including ether and Bitcoin Cash. It is the first bitcoin exchange to be regulated in Japan, the US, and Europe.

bitFlyer said the partnership will allow L’Operaio customers to spend up to 100 million yen ($1M USD) in bitcoin using their digital wallet. Bitcoin purchases can be done by scanning a QR code and will be “settled in a few seconds.”

The bitcoin payment option will initially be limited to L’Operaio’s three stores in Tokyo, but the goal is to “expand to all stores in the future.”

L’Operaio is not the first Japanese car dealership to accept bitcoin as payment. In December 2017, Idom Inc. started accepting bitcoin payments at its Liberala stores, located in Hokkaido, Tohoku, Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, Chugoku/Shikoku, and Kyushu.